1. Field
One or more embodiments of the present invention relate to an image forming apparatus capable of forming an image on a recording medium and a cartridge that is attachable to or detachable from the image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus using electrophotography prints an image on a recording medium by supplying toner to an electrostatic latent image formed on a photoreceptor to form a visible toner image on the photoreceptor, transferring the visible toner image onto the recording medium, and fusing the transferred visible toner image on the recording medium.
Toner that remains on the photoreceptor after a transfer process is referred to as residual toner. The residual toner on the photoreceptor may pollute a charger that charges the photoreceptor or cause a ghost phenomenon whereby a previous image remains on a next printed image. Accordingly, after transferring the toner, the residual toner may be removed from the photoreceptor before a next image is printed. The removed toner is referred to as waste toner. The waste toner may be stored in a predetermined waste toner storage unit. When an amount of the waste toner stored in the waste toner storage unit is high, the waste toner may leak to the outside, and a driving load of a waste toner dispersion member installed in the waste toner storage unit may increase, thereby causing a driving gear to malfunction.
A process cartridge is an assembly of components for forming a visible toner image. The process cartridge is a consumable product that is detachable from a main body of an image forming apparatus and replaceable after lifespan thereof has ended. A process cartridge may have various structures such as a structure in which a photoreceptor, a development roller that supplies toner to the photoreceptor, and a container portion containing toner may be integrally formed, a structure divided into an image cartridge including a photoreceptor and a development roller and a toner cartridge containing toner, or a structure divided into a photoreceptor cartridge including a photoreceptor, a development cartridge including a development roller, and a toner cartridge containing toner.
The waste toner storage unit may be provided to be adjacent to the photoreceptor. For example, the waste toner storage unit may be provided in the photoreceptor cartridge. When the waste toner storage unit is completely filled with waste toner, the photoreceptor cartridge may have to be replaced even if the lifetime thereof has not terminated, and thus, the photoreceptor cartridge cannot be used for its entire lifetime. A capacity of the waste toner storage unit may be increased, which, however, makes it difficult to provide a photoreceptor cartridge having a compact size. if a member is mounted in the waste toner storage unit to disperse the waste toner, use of the capacity of the waste toner storage unit may be maximized, but, it may be difficult to provide a photoreceptor cartridge that is compact and has a long lifetime.
A waste toner bottle that is separately replaceable from the photoreceptor cartridge may be used as the waste toner storage unit. However, in this case, as the waste toner bottle has to be periodically replaced, user convenience is degraded.